The year 2013 marked the 350th anniversary of the birth of Icelandic scholar, antiquarian,
and manuscript collector Árni Magnússon (1663-1730). In commemoration of this event,
the Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic
Studies in Reykjavík produced 66 Manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Collection (available also in Icelandic and Danish versions as 66 Handrit úr fórum Árna Magnússonar and 66 håndskrifter fra Arne Magnussons samling, respectively) to highlight the contents of the manuscripts in the Arnamagnæan Collection.
The book’s 35 contributors feature 66 manuscripts—a number chosen for the total years
of Árni Magnússon’s life—in an effort to “spark [the] readers’ interest in a collector and a collection that are truly unique
in the world” (37).

In her introduction, Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir provides an overview of the life and
career of Árni Magnússon, from his upbringing at Hvammur to his time collecting manuscripts
in Iceland during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to his death
in Copenhagen just over a year after the Great Fire of 1728. She then details the
foundation of the Arnamagnæan Foundation and the Commission, the dispute over manuscript
ownership between Danes and Icelanders, and the inscription of the collection on the
UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009. Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir’s introduction
is accompanied by a number of colour images, and its margins contain translations
of Árni Magnússon’s acquisition notes and other useful supplementary information.

Each of the 66 chapters following the introduction treats an individual manuscript
in Árni Magnússon’s collection. The individual chapters are brief (typically only
one page) and provide descriptions of the works on which they focus. The authors summarize
date and contents, provenance and transmission, known scribes and owners, and condition
and distinguishing features. Many also detail when, under what circumstances, and
in what form Árni Magnússon acquired a particular manuscript. Underneath the blocks
of text are summaries of manuscript details (call number, total leaves, material,
contents, provenance, date, scribes, current repository), and the chapter author’s
initials. Like the introduction, the chapters are accompanied by colour images on
the page opposite the text. Usually, the image is of one representative leaf from
the manuscript, but occasionally several leaves or even bindings are featured. Images
of particularly beautiful or unusual manuscripts (e.g. AM 45 fol. [Codex Frisianus], AM 122b fol. [Reykjarfjarðarbók], AM 764 4to [Reynistaðarbók], and the liturgical calendar in AM 249a fol., and AM 227 fol. [Stjórn]) are given a full two-page spread, and others offer longer and more detailed text
(e.g. AM 738 4to [Langa-Edda), AM 28 8vo [Codex runicus], and AM 350 fol. [Skarðsbók Jónsbókar]).

The conclusion, written by Soffía Guðný Guðmundsdóttir and Laufey Suðnadóttir (with
Anne Mette Hansen, who contributes an informative excerpt on script), details book
production in the Middle Ages. It explains the parchment-making process and describes
how sheets were folded to create bifolia, which would be sewn together to form a quire. Different sizes and formats are discussed
as are other preparatory measures. The authors discuss tools of writing and explain
the inkmaking process as well as what colours were available to Icelandic scribes.
Next is a consideration of the scribes and scriptoria themselves, followed by a discussion of illuminations and binding. An afterward by
the editors, indices and lists of manuscripts, citations, illustrations, persons,
and titles, and details on contributors conclude the volume.

The book is simultaneously informative and beautiful, and it affords people without
access to the Arnamagnæan Collections in Copenhagen and Reykjavík access to a medieval
and early modern treasure trove. Collectively, the chapters offer a rare and unique
glimpse into a diverse collection of materials, whose contents range from medieval
liturgical calendars and prayer books to saga manuscripts and poetic miscellanies.
This reviewer was pleased to see such a wide variety of material featured, representing
the medieval and early modern periods and both Iceland and Denmark. In their stated
purpose—“to give a picture of Árni Magnússon the manuscript collector and the richness and
diversity of his collection” (229)—the editors and contributors succeeded admirably. They should be commended for producing
such an excellent tribute to Árni Magnússon’s and his legacy—one that will be of interest
and use to specialists and the general public alike.